Fin Angle

If you imagine a line drawn perpendicularly to the bottom of the board the central fin is always set at 90 degrees to the board but the two side  fins are tilted off this line by a certain amount, outwards.  On my boards I use four different fin angle settings depending on the board model.

#1. Three Degrees

Used for Twin fins and Vee Bottoms.

A twin fin surfs  loosley as it doesn’t have the third fin so the fins need to be set fairly straight to give the board drive.  Similarly with a vee bottomed board will give the fins more splay so you don’t want much angle on the fins otherwise you wouldn’t be able to control the board.

#2 Five degrees

For all boards shaped from 1995 - 2000- now used on custom boards when it is a particular surfer’s preference

I used to use five degrees for all my boards as it was a good general angle for boards with subtle contours it was also the industry standard. However with the greater control preshaping machines allow the shaper over the combination  of rocker, concaves etc, designs have become more specific and the five degree setting  is not so common. Now most shapers change their fin angles to suit the bottom contours of their designs.

#3 Six Degrees

Most Models

Six degrees is now my preferred default fin setting, I’ve moved it on one degree as my designs have more rocker curve and concave through the tail where the  fins go.  This extra concave through the tail acts to straighten the fins up therefore I have added an degree to splay the fins out more because if the fins were straighter the boards would become stiffer and less manouevrable.

#4 Eight Degrees

I use eight degrees for team boards with deep concaves from the team feedback, the eight degree setting compliments high performance boards perfectly balancing speed and directional  manouvrebility.

 

Four fins

The best place for more information on four fins is the master of the Quattro system Bruce Mckee everything I know about four fins I learnt from him. www.mckeesurf.com

N.B. A lot depends on where the fins are positioned on the boards aswell as the angle - most shapers fin positions are a closely guarded secret and are different depending on the size and model.